Lasers or other light sources have the unique property of delivering precise photonic energy at a distance. As a consequence, laser processing is becoming widely used in manufacturing because laser processing can provide a tool that is physically non-intrusive to the part undergoing the processing. Lasers or photolytic processing methods have the additional feature of processing material on a local scale, which reduces material waste with improved safety. Lasers or photolytic processing techniques retain the advantage of processing many different types of materials, such as metals, glass, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors, bioceramics, bone, and tissue, with a scale resolution that can approach the wavelength of light. With these advantages, a laser or photon material process can cost effectively be applied to precision laser milling manufacturing. Usefulness of a laser and photonic processing method is dependent on the precision and control that is exercised during photon delivery to the target sample. Photonic processing can have multidimensional control. As a result, there is a wider diversity of processes that are possible with lasers and light. Laser processes can be used to remove material with very high precision, aid in the deposition of materials, alter the phase of processed materials, or act as a spectroscopic monitor during processing.
Lasers or optical processing approaches can facilitate the development of advanced components and devices. However, the disadvantages of laser material processing have been the inability to modulate the photon flux with sufficient fidelity to produce the desired physical outcome. This lack of systems control has limited the application of lasers to materials processing. Laser processing relies on necessary laser controls, such as, power, intensity, temporal intensity distribution, spatial intensity distribution, and coherence, for the material sample under irradiation at optimum times. For a target that is not moving, this is easily accomplished. However, when the target is moving and patterns are being laser machined, the current methods involve fixing the laser power and then applying the necessary controls to minimize the power fluctuations. This rudimentary type of control does not compensate for motion when the target velocity is varying continuously. Consequently, the sample is overexposed or overmachined in areas where the velocity was less than the average value. For example, this overexposure would occur at locations where sharp turns of the sample target or the laser beam are made. The laser processing industry solves this over and under exposure problem by adding a laser beam shutter and using cut-in and cut-out segments within the tool path pattern that are similar to operations performed on a milling machine. The cut-in and cut-out segments are additional motion segments that permit the motion control system to ramp-up and ramp-down the velocity. The laser beam is shuttered on and off during these additional segments. This cut-in and cut-out approach adds overhead to the processing time and limits the types of motion sequences. Furthermore, it becomes difficult to machine a part that is comprised of an assortment of materials that are co-joined or a part that has an assortment of surface finishes. To machine such a part, the laser power would be reset or altered as the laser repeatedly traverses the different materials and different surface finishes. This type of reset power control is not available and as a consequence laser machining is now conducted on individual material types and finishes and then post-assembled. Significant costs are involved in complex manufacturing using laser-processing methods applied to an assembled unit that is comprised of many materials and surface finishes. These and other disadvantages are solved or reduced using the invention.